Steve Lavey | 20 Million Minutes
Reaching for Significance in the Next 20 Million Minutes
Even Bradley Wiggins, the Individual Pursuit Gold Medalist at the Athens Olympics, and a Tour de France 2007 Prologue favorite, is now questioning the testing procedures…
“Landis has released a 300-page document, expressing his case and you think, ‘God, if he’s gone to that much trouble, maybe he is innocent, maybe there is a fault with the testing procedures.’ The whole business just leaves an air of uncertainty over the testing procedures, over who’s lying, and who isn’t”.
Where is the WADA when you need a comment? On November 6, BBC Radio 4 casted doubts on today’s testosterone testing, having investigated statistical weaknesses in the testing regime for drugs in sport. One athlete interviewed for the program who had initially been suspected of taking testosterone was finally cleared last week.
The presenter, Andrew Dilnot said “The cyclist Floyd Landis is also contesting the allegation that he too took testosterone to enhance his apparently winning performance in the Tour de France. “While we (BBC) have no idea of Landis’ guilt or innocence and would not speculate, is there anything in the argument that testosterone can reach suspicious levels for natural reasons? “What we found in our investigations was reason to concern us both about the plight of the innocent and our chances of catching the guilty.”Apparently they sought comment from the WADA about these problems in testing for thier show. The reponse?
“No one is available” said the WADA– can you believe it? Quite amazing after “shoot from the hip” Dick Pound erupted every other day after the Tour de France to blast Landis and Tour organizers.
According to CyclingNews.com, Lance Armstrong has confirmed the signing of Ivan Basso to Discovery Channel.
This afternoon, from Austin, Texas, the official announcement is expected that the 2006 Giro d’Italia winner will ride for the same team that helped carry Armstrong to his Tour successes.The last hurdle is DNA testing. Basso steadfastly refused to submit to DNA testing to clear his name in the Operación Puerto investigation but it is now likely the rider, in his eighth year as a pro, will give the ‘OK’ as per the gentlemen’s agreement made by the International Association of Professional Cycling teams. It is likely that Bruyneel will ask Basso to submit his DNA to erase all doubts of his involvement with Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.
According to the Italian sports newspaper, Discovery Channel is set to welcome the Giro champion in Austin on December 3, when he will be fitted for team clothing and gear during the team’s first, unofficial training camp. The Tour is the number one objective of the American team and it is unknown if Basso will want to continue with the same program of riding both the Italian and French grand tours.
Finally, some respected sporting officials are speaking out about the lack of credibility and professionalism of Dick Pound.
A couple of days ago, NBA Commissioner David Stern criticized the World Anti-Doping Agency on Friday, saying “the organization has lost respect in the international community”. Stern jabbed WADA head Dick Pound for his treatment of Floyd Landis, the Tour de France winner who tested positive for testosterone.”(WADA) is actually getting harder to take seriously,” Stern said before the Bucks-Raptors game. “Whenever an organization which purports to be even-handed and fair announces that a `B’ sample isn’t necessary, then they lose an enormous amount of respect.”
It is about time people begin to look at Dick Pound and see what a loose cannon he is, saying stupid stuff from the hip that makes him lose respect in the international community and shows him to be non-credible in his role at WADA.
Even thought I am far away in Turkey, I wanted to finish my review of the Willow A2 Conference — It also doesn’t hurt that it is 4:00 am and I am wide awake and no place to go…….. “No Perfect People Allowed” is the mantra of a 20′s/to 40′s church in Austin Texas, founded by John and Kathy Burke. I got a chance to hear John again after meeting him a year ago at an RSI conference. He and his team have been very helpful as we exchanged information about capital campaign tactics and managing growth. I found his approach to ministering to this generation compelling. John has pastored a church that has seen God work in marvellous ways — the standard huge growth to several thousand, many coming to Christ, etc — all the typical things you hear from conference speakers.
The compelling story here for me is that John is resolute and laser-focused on reaching people with the Gospel. After the half-hour summary of their ministry approach, John and his right-hand man, Charles Dishinger, took Q&A in “the Bullpen”. Many of the questions dealth with the messy side consequences of evangelism, mainly that if you go out to minister to the types that Jesus would minister to, how do you get these people discipled and grow them to a place to lead others? They key for me was John’s unwillingness to disengage in dialogue with all people all the time about Jesus Christ. He is an evangelist and is unashamed of his focus. What came through to me was the compelling argument that John leads with evangelism and has a team behind him to do discipleship and leadership. IMHO, this is the way it should be! We should be about reaching AS MANY AS POSSIBLE with the Gospel and we can build the right team behind us to ensure donctrinal purity, appropriate training and development, etc. Like Gateway, we at Park Community Church are built of the same cloth and share this kindred spirit. I applaud everything that John and his team are doing and wish them all the best.
I am blogging to you from Turkey — we were invited over here for a five day whirlwind tour of some churches to understand their long term planting and growth strategies and look at long-term partnerships. I am tired but excited — we flew through London so it so about 20 hours of planes, trains and automobiles but we arrived safe and sound. Turkey is an interesting, complex melting pot of nationalities and culture, intertwined with a rich and vibrant history. From Constantinople to its modern day pursuit of entry in the EU, Turkey sits in one of the most strategic places in this world — and I get five days to explore it!
Today after meetings, we headed out in the 40 degree rain to see the Blue Mosque and the 1,500 year old roman cistern. While I had been to Istanbul before, I only learned today that the Emperor who commissioned the Blue Mosque was 19 when they had the commissioning/groundbreaking ceremony in 1,609. Wow — what leadership at such a young age. The cistern amazed me at the incredible engineering almost 400 years ago — what an engineering marvel! Anyway, tomorrow, we have a full day of meetings then a late afternoon run through the Grand Bazaar!
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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C. Norman Fay could never have known how successful his efforts would become when he marshaled the support of 50 like-minded Chicago businessmen to entice conductor Theodore Thomas from New York with promises of a permanent, full-time orchestra, a 28-week season, competitive wages for his musicians, and complete artistic freedom unfettered by box-office receipts or administrative burdens.
When the Chicago Orchestra presented its first concert in the Auditorium Theater on October 16, 1891, Thomas created a recipe for success that has served the ensemble through its history: audience education and community service based upon uncompromising artistic excellence.
Thomas died January 4, 1905, just weeks after dedicating the new Orchestra Hall that 8,000 contributors had built at his request. Another German-born maestro, Frederick Stock, succeeded Thomas and continued an illustrious conducting tradition which would later include Désiré Defauw, Artur Rodzinski, Rafael Kubelik, Fritz Reiner, Jean Martinon, Sir Georg Solti, and Daniel Barenboim. In 1919, Stock established the orchestra’s first children’s concerts and created the Civic Music Student Orchestra (now the Civic Orchestra of Chicago), a unique training ensemble intended to develop native talent that is still operating today. Another function of the orchestra was to help overcome the city’s rough-hewn image and place Chicago onto the world’s cultural stage. After over 900 recordings (1916–), 56 of which have won Grammy Awards (1960–), regular radio broadcasts, television appearances, numerous domestic and overseas tours, the “Chicago sound,” with rich brass sonorities complemented by virtuosic wind and string playing, has indeed elicited worldwide admiration. Source: Encyclopedia of Chicago
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